In the five days since Washington unveiled its new defence strategy document,
many China-watchers have been secretly itching to see if Beijing will fly
off the handle. The reality, so far, has been tantrum-free.

The new US military focus on what China clearly sees as its backyard could
have been expected to have drawn at least some fist-thumping. The US
document does not disguise its assumption that China poses a rapidly growing
military threat in a region with plenty of possible flashpoints.

But even Beijing’s official comment on the matter today – that the US defence
review was based on a